Crisis on the border

Failure to solve immigration issues causes real suffering

April 18, 2007

BY CAROL MARIN cmarin@suntimes.com

PIMA COUNTY, Ariz. -- We like to say there are two sides to every story. But here on the front lines of the immigration wars, there are 10 sides. Maybe more.

Last week we made our annual trek to a great old horse ranch on the Arizona side of the Mexican border. It is here, every year, that we leave the city behind, lope the desert and drink in the beauty of the West. But midway through the week, the desert took on all sorts of different dimensions. Down the road were the Minutemen -- people from all over the United States, young and old, who volunteer their time to come down, camp out, watch the border and report sightings of illegal immigrants to law enforcement. Their critics consider them vigilantes. The Minutemen consider themselves patriots dedicated to having the borders secured and the law against illegal immigration obeyed.